Read Tiny Dragons 1: The Sky Dragons Online
Authors: Bernard Schaffer
Tiny Dragons 1: The Sky Dragons (6 page)
Mister Six yowled gently and nodded his head at the dragon.
"What did she call him?" Alana whispered.
"What brings you to the aid of the Sky Dragons?" Lady Moon said.
Mister Six yowled and purred several times, talking rapidly in cat-speak and looking up at James and Alana a few times as he did.
"I see," Lady Moon said. "So it was not for Star at all. How interesting."
"What's he saying?" James said.
Lady Moon said, "It seems the two of you are under the protection of the Cat Kingdom. You must be quite special indeed to have been assigned to someone as well-known and respected as Sir He-Who-Runs-In-Shadow."
"The Cat Kingdom?" Alana whispered.
James leaned down next to her and mumbled, "We need to stop complaining when Mom asks us to clean out his litter box, that's for sure."
Lady Moon nodded at Star, "Can you fly?"
"I think so," he said
, stretching out his wings and shaking them.
"Good. We are leaving." The dragon turned to Alana and James, "The two of you have done the Sky Dragons a great service this day. It is something I never thought to see from any of humankind. This tale will be told around our sacred fire for many, many years." Lady Moon leaned back on her rear legs and bowed her head low to the children.
Alana and James both bowed in return, and even Mister Six did a little wave of his paw and lowered his head.
Just before they left, Star nudged Alana on the cheek with his snout and said, "I have to go now."
"Will I see you again?" Alana said.
A tear
trickled down the little girl's cheek and Star wiped it away with the side of his face. "Of course. You're my best friend, and besides, who else would I call if I needed to be rescued?"
Alana laughed and wrapped her arms around the tiny dragon, hugging him as tightly as she co
uld. Star stepped back and flapped his wings, several times, just enough to get himself up in the air. Lady Moon leapt up from the ground with a tremendous thrust and flapped once, sending herself immediately over the tops of the trees and heading straight up into the night sky.
"Goodbye for now," Star said.
Alana held up her hand and waved to him, watching her friend turn in the air and flap his wings, racing to catch up to the other dragon and go home.
James scratched his head as he watched the dragons disappear. He looked down at Mister Six, who looked back at him, and scratched it even more. "Wow," James said. "What a weird day this was."
"That's for sure," Alana said.
"It is so late. Mom is gonna have a fit."
"Yep," Alana said. She sighed and said, "I'll tell her it was all my fault so you don't get in trouble."
James reached down and took his little sister by the hand and said, "Don't worry, kid. I've got your back.
We'll think of something together."
A Special Note for Parents by the Author
This story started on one of the many visits to the bookstore that I take my kids on. In the old days, my time in bookstores would be spent sipping coffee in the café, reading expensive foreign magazines, thumbing through a big stack of books that I might want to buy. Now, they primarily consist of sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches in the kids' section, reading my daughter one of a dozen picture and chapter books for hours on end while my son runs off to peruse the humor section. I'm sure you can relate.
One day I was dredging through one of the latest installments of some infernal series about fairies that my daughter likes, and I finally closed it and said, "I can't take this anymore. This is the most poorly written dreck I've ever seen. This is not how books are supposed to be written, my love."
"Well," she said, "You're a writer. Why don't you write one?"
Oh, children, with their naïve little ideas. "Because, darling, daddy is a
n author of books for adults. I don't write for children."
"So? You could try."
"But I don't have time."
"Okay," she said, her large brown eyes looking up at me, blinking in that sad puppy
dog fashion that genetically predisposes me to play dress up and have tea parties and watch endless episodes of cartoons about ponies.
And thus, Tiny Dragons.
My reason for writing to you, the parents, and probably also to you, the curious child who read this section anyway, despite it clearly being labeled as being not for you (I was a curious child once too, you see) is that I want to urge you, implore you, beg you even, not to buy any of my other books.
At least, not for the kiddies.
I am not a children's author, per se, in that this is the first book I've ever written that is appropriate for them to read. My son often asks me when he'll be old enough to read some of my other books and my patent answer is, "When you are forty-five, married, have traveled once to Australia and twice to Europe, when you can disassemble and reassemble a small combustion engine blindfolded in a dark room, and hold at least one degree in the sciences from any accredited university. Also, when pigs fly."
In short, I mean this quite seriously, please do not ignore my warnings.
If the little ones ask, tell them the Tiny Dragons will return, so just be patient.
And also tell them that broccoli, despite what I wrote, is actually quite good.
Bernard Schaffer is the author of multiple books that span a wide variety of genres, including modern American literature, police procedurals, and science fiction westerns. He has worked on several projects with famous authors such as Harlan Ellison, Alan Dean Foster, and Bill Thompson (the editor who discovered Stephen King and John Grisham). In 2011, Schaffer founded KAS, a select group of independent authors that donates proceeds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Recently, he collaborated with J.A. Konrath on two books that feature Konrath's best-selling Lt. Jack Daniels characters, and ones from Schaffer's own Superbia series.
Aside from writing, Schaffer is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and the proud father of two children. He is a decorated police detective and expert in narcotics distribution.
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